ECAD Sunday Speakers

10:00 am:Annual MeetingOpen to Explorers Club Members ONLY11:00 am:Sunday Clubhouse Events BeginOpen to Members and Ticketed ECAD Guests ONLY

Sunday Speakers

1:20 ROSALY LOPESFire and Ice: Volcanoes on the Earth and the Solar System
The planets and moons of the Solar System are incredibly diverse worlds with histories both ancient and dramatic. Etched into their surfaces is a fascinating story – of fire and ice, of order and upheaval, of great cataclysms and slow change. Volcanoes are common throughout the Solar System and volcanic eruptions are among nature's most awesome spectacles. We will tour different volcanoes on Earth, including two explored in Flag Expeditions, and in the solar system.

1:40 SUSAN CONRADInside: One Woman’s Journey through the Inside Passage
With her world scaled down to an 18-foot sea kayak and a 1,200-mile ribbon of water known as the Inside Passage, Susan Conrad launched a journey of the sea and soul that took her north to Alaska. She paddled marathon distances for weeks on end, forged friendships in the strangest of places, and pretended not to be intimidated by 700-pound grizzly bears and 40-ton whales. Susan’s former husband, the late James Chester, Explorers Club Fellow, played an immense role in her success; his voice has a strong presence in her soon-to-be-released memoir.

2:00 GEORGE BASCHBreathe Easy Nepal - 2014 & 2015
A 2014 Flag Expedition, Breathe Easy Nepal examined the impacts that the Himalayan Stove Project’s clean-burning, fuel efficient, Envirofit clean #CookStoves have brought to families and the environment in the High Himalayas of Nepal. The expedition confirmed that the stoves reduce indoor air pollution by up to 90% and fuel consumption by up to 75%; improving people’s health and helping preserve the environment. Over 3,000 stoves have been delivered, transforming families' lives, and more are on the way. George "Chief Cook" Basch MN ‘10 will "show and tell" about this on-going, successful, humanitarian and environmental project.

2:20 DON YOUNGThe Elephant Singers of Kenya’s Kerio Valley
This is the story of a vanishing ritual virtually unknown to the rest of the world that could hold the key to saving elephants and other wildlife in one of the most remote and beautiful parts of Africa. For many years Don Young and his friend Senior Warden William Kimosop have studied remarkable individuals who are envoys between people and elephants. Singing ancient songs, they welcome the elephant herds (estimated to be 500 - 600) asking them not to destroy their fields, and to bless their children to be ‘as good as the elephant.’ Don believes this ancient ritual can be a foundation to save wilderness and wildlife.

2:40 FRANCESCA VON HABSBURG and MARKUS REYMANNArt Helps Us Feel What Science Helps Us Understand
Thyssen Bornemisza Art Contemporary (TBA21) is one of Europe’s most cutting edge art collections founded by Francesca von Habsburg in 2002. In 2015 together with TBA21 Academy director Markus Reymann, they created THE CURRENT which is the exploratory soul of TBA21. Over the course of three years, each CURRENT program gives three expedition leaders an opportunity to invite a group of experts from diverse fields of expertise from the arts, science and exploration throughout the Pacific Ocean aboard the exploration vessel Dardanella. Each participant is invited to develop a new language of knowledge production that can inspire us to become agents of change. In 2018 the next CURRENT Triennium will explore the Arctic Circle. Conceived to raise awareness for today’s most urgent issues through personal and material exploration, THE CURRENT seeks to redefine the culture of exploration and discovery in the 21st century.

3:00 - 3:50 BREAK

3:50 DAVID HELVARGSaved by the Sea – Hope, Heartbreak and Wonder in the Blue World
Helvarg will share some of the trauma and wonder he has experienced in, on and by the ocean. Whether reporting on coral bleaching and a military coup in Fiji, boarding suspect fishing vessels off Iraq, or forcing penguins to puke for science, his are startling and sometimes quite funny reflections on the present state of our seas. His talk will remind you of the intimate ways in which all of our lives are linked to the natural world around us.

4:10 SIMON DONATO Madagascar's Limestone Labyrinth: Exploring the Great Tsingy
In 2014, Simon led a flag expedition into an unexplored section of the Tsingy de Bemaraha’s Strict Nature Preserve, a remote region known for its spectacular limestone karst formations, and the dry deciduous forest which its stone walls protect. The team spent two weeks exploring this unmapped region and was rewarded with a number of incredible discoveries in the realms of speleology, paleontology, and archaeology. The team also conducted daily lemur surveys to better understand population density and species richness in this unexplored landscape.

4:30 MARK SETH LENDER Restraint: The Avoidance of Harm between Unequally Armed Species
Tigers, elephants and a host of well-armed others would long ago have gone extinct. Virtually It is well known that animals hold back in conflicts with their own kind. If they didn’t, unknown is the remarkable degree to which this same courtesy – which Mark Seth Lender calls Restraint –extends between species. Citing examples drawn from his own fieldwork, including encounters between elephants and crocodiles, giant petrels and elephant seals, juvenile sea lions and the author himself, Lender suggest a singular rational.

4:50 SUSAN R. EATON Empowering the Next Generation of Female Aboriginal Leaders in the Canadian Arctic through the Arts, the Sciences and Exploration
Boldly going where no man has gone before, the women of the Sedna Epic Expedition will mount a snorkel relay the Northwest Passage to bring global attention to disappearing sea ice in the Arctic. Using mobile aquariums, remotely operated vehicles and snorkel safaris to foster inquiry-based learning, Team Sedna’s educational outreach brings the ocean to eye level for aboriginal girls and young women in the Canadian Arctic, creating a space for these future leaders to excel in the Arts, the Sciences and Exploration.

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